Cuba's foreign minister has accused the United States of pressuring Latin American countries to terminate longstanding agreements that deploy Cuban doctors abroad, calling the campaign an act of economic "extortion" against the island nation.
Bruno Rodríguez made the accusations after several countries halted or scaled back their participation in Cuba's foreign medical missions program, according to reporting by The Guardian. Rodríguez alleged that Washington was working to "strangle" the Cuban economy by targeting one of its most significant sources of foreign revenue.
A program worth billions
Cuba's overseas medical missions have for decades served as a cornerstone of the country's foreign policy and a major driver of government income. Under these arrangements, Cuba sends trained medical professionals to partner nations, typically in exchange for payment, oil, or other forms of compensation. The program operates in dozens of countries and is estimated to generate billions of dollars annually for the Cuban government.
Critics of the program, including the United States government and various human rights organizations, have long argued that Cuban doctors on these missions are subjected to exploitative conditions, including restricted movement, confiscation of a large share of their salaries, and limitations on their ability to leave or defect. Washington has previously moved to make it easier for Cuban medical workers abroad to seek asylum in the United States.
Competing narratives
The Cuban government rejects characterizations of the program as exploitative, framing it instead as a form of international solidarity and a practical expression of its socialist foreign policy. Havana maintains that participating doctors are volunteers serving a humanitarian mission.
The United States has not publicly commented on the specific accusations made by Rodríguez, according to The Guardian's report. The Trump administration and its predecessors have both taken steps to discourage participation in the Cuban doctors program, viewing it as a revenue stream that sustains the Cuban government.
Several Latin American governments have faced domestic and external pressure on the issue. Some have canceled or allowed agreements to lapse, while others have maintained or renewed them despite US objections. The decisions often reflect broader diplomatic alignments, with left-leaning governments generally more supportive of the program and right-leaning administrations more willing to discontinue it.
Broader economic pressure on Cuba
The dispute over the medical missions program is unfolding against a backdrop of intensifying economic hardship in Cuba. The country has been experiencing severe shortages of food, fuel, and medicine, driven by a combination of US sanctions, pandemic-related disruptions, and long-running structural problems within its state-run economy.
Rodríguez's comments signal that Havana views the targeting of its doctors program as part of a broader US strategy to accelerate the Cuban economy's deterioration. Cuba has consistently blamed US sanctions policy for its economic crisis, a position disputed by Washington, which argues that mismanagement by the Cuban government is the primary cause of the population's hardship.
The medical missions dispute adds a new dimension to decades of antagonism between Washington and Havana, drawing in third-party governments across Latin America and the Caribbean who must weigh their relationships with both countries when deciding whether to maintain or cancel their agreements with Cuba.
